The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority took the final steps Thursday to begin applying a $1.2 million federal grant to ongoing transit-oriented development planning efforts.
The RDA board approved a memorandum of understanding with the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, operator of the South Shore Line, regarding the administration and local match for the grant. NICTD s board had approved the memorandum, which includes local funds of $270,000 from the RDA and $30,000 from NICTD, last week.
The $1.5 million will go toward planning for development around current and future railroad stations along the South Shore and West Lake Corridor. It was part of a total of nearly $23 million in TOD planning grants announced by the Federal Transit Administration last year.Â
The public has the opportunity to review and comment on proposed boundaries for Transit Development Districts around South Shore Line stations in Portage, East Chicago and Gary s Miller neighborhood, each of which will be the subject of online presentations in Februrary.
The TDDs, to be established by the Regional Development Authority, can cover one-half square mile, within which the growth in property and local income taxes will be leveraged to promote new development.
Each South Shore station along the existing and future West Lake Corridor lines will be part of a TDD to be administered by the RDA, which has established the website www.nwitdd.com to provide details of each. To date, the RDA has proposed boundaries for TDDs at the Munster/Dyer Main Street and Munster Ridge Road stations, as well as the Portage/Ogden Dunes, Miller and East Chicago proposals made public in recent days.